Blogs

    Jingle Beers has officially begun! After a minor hick-up, our inaugural Jingle Beer this year is Boulevard's Nutcracker Ale. Boulevard is a local brewery here in Kansas City. They have a pretty decent selection of beers to choose from. My favorite would have to be their plain Wheat beer, followed by the Bully Porter. Boulevard's seasonal beers are pretty hit or miss though... I was never much of a fan of their Oktoberfest seasonal, Bob's 47. I like hops as much as the next guy but I don't think your Mät;rzen should taste like an IPA. Call me crazy. But anyway, the Nutcracker is a different story. Boulevard did a great job with this seasonal.

    It's that time of year again, when brewers start churning out their seasonal Christmas beers. When I think of holiday beers I usually think of warm (in taste, not actual temperature...) brown ales with a slightly higher than usual alcohol by volume. Nothing fancy, just beers that go well with a smoked ham or a plate of chocolate chip cookies. As it turns out, there are a myriad of different holiday ales that run that gamut from fancy to fanciful. This December we're chronicling a spirited romp through more than 25 of these X-mas seasonals, from Delerium's Noël to Boulevard's Nut Cracker Ale. Blackenheimer's coverage of this year's month-long event begins on December 1st, so check back early and often for the delicious details on this year's Jingle Beers.

    Don't bother picking up one of those lame books of baby names at the grocery check out, we've got you covered. Below you'll find a list of the 100 most bad ass baby boy names ever. Now, this isn't another one of those lame "ZOMFG Celebrities Give Their Kids the Dumbest Names!!!" posts. This is all about laying down the most boss names you can give a kid. These names are guaranteed to garner respect and admiration. They are totally foolproof. Don't believe me? Think it's akin to child abuse to give a kid an unusual name? Read on and leave a comment below... unless you have a totally lame name that is...

    Bruce Campbell is a bad ass. Always has been, always will be. The first time I saw Bruce Campbell was probably in Evil Dead II as Ash. Evil Dead II was an awesome movie about a guy and his girl friend who get stranded in a creepy cabin out in the woods. Sound lame? Yeah, it's a pretty cliche set up, but Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell pull it off. This wasn't just some slasher movie, it was hilariously funny and still a bit gory. Army of Darkness was the follow up to the Evil Dead movies and, in my opinion, even better. I've enjoyed all of Bruce Campbell's movies and if I could be bothered to read a book, I'd probably enjoy the hell out of his books... but for now I'll stick to the movies.

This is my response to the comments I recieved on my
In Light of Both Conventions entry and the thought thats since I haven't voted before, my opinions are somehow void and should be discarded. It was brought up multiple times and I started to respond in the comment section, but I got going and decided to just make a formal blog response to them. Beyond this point is the comment that actually made me respond, and my response...

    The Social Services are a kitschy band from Sweden. I recently came across the first single from their recently released album, It's Nothing Personal, It's National Security, titled The Baltic Sea. This song is about how Sweden is awesome, but how the people suck... Yeah, they are bitching about how sweet it is to be Swedish but they hate how people don't smile at each other. Boo Hoo. But don't get me wrong, this isn't some emo crybaby with an acoustic guitar and a funny accent just complaining about his 15 year old scenesteress girlfriend. This song is a tongue-in-cheek look at Swedish society. It's not terribly deep, but just good fun, well worth a listen.

Axl Rose SWEARS this time that Chinese Democracy will be released on November 23rd. For those of you not familiar with the storied legend of this album, it's basically been promised to us about 200+ times within the last ten years. This date is supposedly official this time, but like many, I'll believe it when I see it. And even then, I still may be a bit cynical.

I love the Chiefs...and have for almost 20 years. Ever since the 1991 season when my dad and I would don our red shirts every Sunday and watch Steve DeBerg and Christian Okoye lead the "Martyball" offense, and Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith hammer out a crushing defense, I've rarely missed a game. So, you can see why - being as I wasn't around to watch the wretched Chiefs of the 70s and 80s - it hurts to watch a team I'm so used to seeing in playoff contention (or at the very least winning 7 or 8 games) play the way they have the last few years.